What We Do

As a regional growth management board, the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) is mandated by the Province to implement the region's 30-year Growth Plan and to create a regional metro servicing plan.

Our approach is set out in the Growth Plan, which is updated every five to eight years. The Growth Plan guides the efficient use of infrastructure and the building of compact communities to foster enhanced intermunicipal transit, healthy lifestyles and economic opportunities.

Managing Growth

We use the Regional Evaluation Framework (REF) to execute the Growth Plan. Each member municipality submits its plans and plan amendments to the EMRB for approval to ensure we remain aligned with the vision and goals that we collectively set.

The Edmonton Metropolitan Region by the Numbers

The Edmonton Metropolitan Region itself includes more than the 13 municpalities that make up the EMRB.

In total there are 21 diverse municipalities (5 cities, 10 towns and 2 villages in 4 counties) with about 33% of Alberta's population, covering 9,439 square kilometers or 1.4% of Alberta's land mass around Alberta’s provincial capital city.

Edmonton Metropolitan Region is the second fastest growing region in Canada

Population: 1.3 million (2016)

Jobs: 725,000 (30% of Alberta’s GDP) (2016)

By 2044 we will double in population to 2.2 million people and 1.2 million jobs

Who We Are

We are here for the Edmonton Metropolitan Region — as a diverse group with one common goal — to make the best decisions possible for the citizens of the area and the Region. We are committed to working together as the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) to ensure long term economic prosperity and quality of life for all citizens of the region.

Our main functions, as decreed by the Government of Alberta, are to plan for and manage the growth of the region in a strategic, coordinated and integrated way, and create a metro services plan, in order to preserve the unique characteristics of each municipality while ensuring the long term sustainability and prosperity of the region as a whole.

In addition to the elected officials above, a non-voting Government of Alberta appointee also sits on the Board. The Government of Alberta has also appointed representatives to the committees of the Board to enhance communication and cooperation between the Board and province.

As a Standing Committee of the Board, the Executive Committee provides leadership advice for the governance of the Board, Board priorities and strategic agenda and the monitoring & reporting of the Board’s progress towards its goals, in accordance with the Strategic Plan and Regional Growth Plan.

As a Standing Committee of the Board, the Audit & Finance Committee provides strategic leadership and advice to the Board regarding its fiduciary responsibilities, compliance, risk management, external reporting, and internal control policies and practices.

The Integrated Transportation & Transit Systems Working Group provides elected officials from membership municipalities the opportunity to meet and discuss integrated transportation and/or transit systems, to garner a better understanding of what is occurring throughout the region.

The purpose of the Working Group is to monitor, support, and advocate for collaborative transportation - and transit-related activities in the Edmonton Metro Region. The Working Group is also tasked with maintaining a coordinated view of the initiatives and activities on behalf of the Board.

Task Forces are project specific. The update to the 2010 Growth Plan began in 2014 when the Growth Plan Update Task Force was struck. Over 30 months the Task Force worked through that plan's successes and learnings to update and enhance the next generation of Growth Plan.

The Board thanks the Task Force members for their service and dedication to the creating the best future for all Regional residents.

CRB 2014-16 Growth Plan Update Task Force Members

Mayor Roxanne Carr, Chair | Strathcona County

Mayor Lisa Holmes, Vice-Chair | Town of Morinville

Mayor Don Iveson, Member | City of Edmonton

Mayor Gale Katchur, Member | City of Fort Saskatchewan

Councillor Cathy Heron, Member | City of St. Albert

Councillor John Schonewille, Member | Leduc County

Mayor Ralph van Assen, Member | Village of Warburg

History

On April 15, 2008, the Government of Alberta recognized what we now call the Edmonton Metropolitan Region when it created the Capital Region Board (CRB) to prepare a growth plan for the area.

Established under the Capital Region Board Regulation 38/2012 under the Municipal Government Act, the CRB was a non-profit corporation consisting of 24 elected officials (Mayors and Council members) from each of the region’s member municipalities.

On October 26, 2017 the Government of Alberta proclaimed a new Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board Regulation, reducing the size of the region, reducing EMRB membership to the same elected officials of the 13 municpalities within the new region (with populations of 5,000 or more). In the new regulation the Board's mandate was expanded to include the creation of a Metropolitan Servicing Plan.

The EMRB will continue to guide the municipalities of the region in the implementation of a long term, integrated growth management plan entitled ReImagine. Plan. Build., which was completed and approved by the CRB as its capstone project in 2016. This new, award winning, Growth Plan supports global competitiveness and sustained economic growth with particular attention to the economic, social and environmental impacts on all regional residents.

It outlines how the region will grow more responsibly over the next 30 years, when its population is expected to double to 2.2 million people with 725,000 jobs. This growth will be managed through the lens of six policy areas with uniques targets for each of three policy tiers - the Metro Core, the Metro Area, and the Rural Area.

The six policy areas are:

Economic Competitiveness and Employment

Natural Living Systems

Communities and Housing

Integration of Land Use and Infrastructure

Transportation Systems

Agriculture

In 2015 the Board’s Growth Plan Update Task Force developed a 50-year Vision for the Region, which began the shift from usage of "Capital Region" to the more apt ‘Edmonton Metropolitan Region’.

For the purposes of the Alberta Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Alberta Capital Finance Authority Act, the CRB is deemed to be a regional services commission.